Wednesday, September 11, 2013

THE MEATEATER (1979)

So, we recently got a ROKU box when we cancelled cable. One of the channels is called Drive-In Classics. It has a variety of categories and one of them was Grindhouse. That's where I found this little gem. A word of warning; Drive In Classics is a sponsored channel. That means while it is free to watch there are a block of four or five commercials every ten minutes regardless of what is happening in the movie. Luckily I remember the days of late night broadcast television so I have had the proper training for this. Others might not fare as well.
So, there is this family that decides to buy a movie theater in a small town. The dad is sick of being a shoe salesman on the road all the time so they pack up and go to the new town with the theatre.
One small problem. A disfigured maniac is holed up in the place and he likes fresh meat. Real fresh meat. And if that wasn't enough, their teen age daughter looks a lot like his woman. Seems she's not with us anymore.
MEATEATER is a quirky little flick. Most of the people in it went on to...well, nothing. The guy who plays the dad was in Gas Pump Girls. Most of them did nothing else. The kid (Gary Dean) who played the youngster at least went on to be in an episode of Fawlty Towers and three episodes of Doctor Who as three different characters.
Probably the most famous of the cast would be Joe Marmo who, as the detective on the scene, had the coolest name as Lt. Wombat. He played Nacho 'El Gordo' in Scarface.
The intense amount of commercials did break up the tepid flow of the film and it does drag. There also seems to be a lot of conversation about meat. The mom serves up a hot dog and gives a mini commercial about how healthy they are for you. They sing the Oscar Meyer song and mention Jimmy Dean sausage.
I did like that they were showing nature documentaries and they juxtaposed shots of animals eating with people gorging themselves in the theater.
In the end, this is just a weird little flick with a couple of nice effects, no nudity and some of the worst acting you will ever witness.
Another win!

Here's a scene. Weird thing? Someone dubbed it into another language?!?